The Death Penalty’s Eventual Demise

I do think that eventually the death penalty will go away in the United States. It’s one of those human rights issues like gay marriage and marijuana that offends more and more people. But I wouldn’t be too confident we are seeing it soon or that the Oklahoma disaster will lead to a big push against it. There’s a lot of Americans, especially of the older and whiter and conservative variety, who think the state executing someone in a manner that maximizes suffering is a great thing. It’s more likely to have an impact in a state like Oregon than Oklahoma.

Of course, any sane interpretation of the 8th Amendment would declare the death penalty, especially under these circumstances of untried drug cocktails, unconstitutional. But then again, the only constitutional principle that really matters to conservative majority is current Republican policy positions.